Davis started off the game strong, scoring Conant’s first 11 points, and finished the first half with 18 points, seven rebounds, and two blocks. But a strong one-player performance was not enough to beat a Bronco team who came prepared to battle the entire game.

In Conant’s first game this season against the Broncos on Jan. 5, the Cougars were up 30-23 in the third quarter when the Broncos called a timeout. A similar situation happened on Friday night when the Cougars were up 33-27 in the third quarter.

“Obviously [Davis] played pretty well, but the same thing happened when we were at Barrington. We got up six in the third quarter and right when it happened again, they called a timeout, and I said ‘this is exactly where we were last time, but they are not coming back.’ They did, and they did pretty quickly,” Maley said.

By the end of the third quarter, the score was 39-36 Cougars. With just over six minutes to go in the game, the Broncos gained their first lead since the second quarter and never relinquished it.

The loss hurt the Cougars’ chance of winning of the MSL West Division. With the loss, the Cougars dropped to 4-4 in the conference. The Broncos win extended their record to 6-2. Palatine also won on Friday night against Hoffman Estates, bringing their record to 5-3. With the Cougars losing all their games against these teams, being MSL West Division champions is no longer a reachable goal for this team.

“I think conference is out of the question. But I told these guys: when I played, our team lost conference but ended up going down state. I know those guys who won conference would’ve traded that for anything, so hopefully that can be our next goal,” Maley said.

Davis said, “It’s just focus on State Tournament time. We got to play our best basketball at that time.”

The Cougars have four regular season games remaining, two of which are in conference. Their next game is at Schaumburg on Feb. 9.

Isaac is a junior and a sports editor. This is his second year on the Crier staff. Isaac is a member of the Debate team and PRIDE. Outside of school he watches sports whenever he can and reads anything to do with sports.